Peregrine Falcon chick, 17 June 2006, Hastings, Dakota County. Photo by Harrison B.

Tordoff.

cycling. While the vertical lift of the coun-

terweight is equal to the Hastings bridge,

the lift section of the Prescott bridge is

shorter, and the frequency of lift cycles

is lower because there is no commer-

cial barge traffic on the St. Croix River, a

precaution against introduction of zebra

mussels. Tordoff saw the Prescott adult

female ride the counterweight through

several full cycles, appearing oblivious

to her rides. She is not banded. Might

she be a daughter of Penny 27/A, nest-

ing on a neighboring near-replica of her

birthplace? Her mate is Butler b/g 19/N,

fledged in 2004 at Cargill Elevator, Red

Wing, Minnesota, a younger full brother

of male Charlie b/g 64/P at Hastings.

One of their young first came into view

on 12 July, jumping from the nest depres-

sion up to its west lip. Tordoff photo-

graphed it, estimated its age at 37 days.

On 13 July, Jackie Fallon saw wings be-

ing flapped by at least two young and

on 14 July, three young were perched on

the lip of the nest depression. Haarstick

first saw them move to the counterweight

and begin their vertical travels on 16 July.

We followed them to fledging on 20 July,

but on the premise that once is enough,

we will spare you the statistics of their

up/down trips after leaving their station-

ary nesting hole. Two neighboring pairs,

closely related, nesting in similar, unusual,

and rare mobile sites. Imprinting? Monkey

see, monkey do? Pure chance?

European Starlings nested in holes in

the counterweight of the Hastings bridge

and shared the vertical travels with the

falcons. They attracted no attention from

us, however, which demonstrates a preju-

dice to which we plead guilty.

1Bell Museum of Natural History,

University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

55108;

2Canadian Pacific Railroad, Hast-

ings, MN.

Fall 2006

125